FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Marcel Camus - Orfeu Negro

Orpheus, according to Greek legend, is a musician who descends into the underworld to get his dead wife back. Down there he enchants the gods so much with his music that they make an exception. Marcel Camus moved the plot to the Paris of his time and added something very French: A Menage A Trois. And one with death. The ancient Greeks would have been frightened! Black Orpheus is a marvel full of simple but effective effects. A magical film! Just like the mirror into the world of death. And those who want to go back to the realm of the living simply go backwards. Everything starts in a cafe. There the young poets meet, who despise the not so young Orpheus (Jean Marais). Finally, the princess (Maria Casares) appears and Orpheus takes her with her into the shadowy land. The princess asks Orpheus if he knows who she is. She answers it herself. The princess is death. A very attractive death and so it must come to complications: Orpheus loves his wife Eurydice (Marie Dea) - but also the princess. Camus stages this far removed from all common cinema formulas. He was a surrealist who gave us insights into his subconscious, but not typical cinematic narrative elements. And he didn't shy away from bizarre images! The servants of the princess appear in fetish leather jackets and she herself seems like a dominatrix. Black Orpheus looks like a greeting from a completely different time. A time when film was produced as a pure art form. His characters seem to know that they are in a Greek epic, never seem exaggerated or even affected. At some point we accept Cocteau's special effects as self-evident. This is the point when we ourselves enter his magical world.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Orson Welles - The Stranger


 "Because Welles was young and romantic, his genius seemed closer to us than the talents of the traditional American directors. We loved this film because it was so complete-psychological, social, poetic, dramatic, comic, grotesque. Kane' both demonstrates and mocks the will to power; it is a hymn to youth and a meditation on age, a study of the vanity of all human ambition and a poem about deterioration, and underneath it all a reflection on the solitude of exceptional beings, geniuses or monsters, monstrous geniuses." Francois-Truffaut wrote this about Orson Welles. That's right. But above all, The Stranger is an Edward G. Robinson film. And his most personal! The Stranger can also be considered his most private film. In Wikipedia you learn that his family fled from Romania to the USA because of the anti-Semitic riots. Robinson always remained an upright antifascist. In The Stranger he plays the UN investigator Wilson, who releases a Nazi lackey in the hope that he will lead him to the big fish. Wilson wants to catch Franz Kindler, the organizer of the Holocaust. Kindler, of course, is impersonated by Orson Welles himself. He's a terrible guy. Kindler may pass as a brisk teacher type - but behind him is a Eichmann. An architect of death. The Stranger was Welles' third directorial work in Hollywood. His visions had already been blurred before and now Welles was trying to restore his reputation. In Welles career, The Stranger is the closest thing to a real studio hit. There are wonderfully expressionistic images, one of the first Holocaust Film Noir - and one can assume that the American public in 1946 did not know much about the Holocaust. The devastation of the war is evident in the psyche of the protagonists, indeed in the American psyche - the enduring theme of Film Noir.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Nine Queens


Nine Queens by Fabian Bielinsky is a con with a con with a con. Whenever we're at the point of believing we solved it, there's a new level. So this is one of those movies in which not only nothing is as it seems - here nothing seems as it seems... It all starts with a seemingly random meeting (apparently in Nine Queens everything is pretty much everything). Juan (Gaston Pauls) changes 20 dollars at a naive cashier and in the end he owns 39 dollars. How, I still haven't understood that. Juan gets greedy after the first time, tries another cashier, but this time he gets blown up: The first cashier screams, the manager is informed, then a stranger, Marcos (Ricardo Darin), pulls out his gun and identifies himself as a policeman. Juan is arrested. Of course, Marcos is only apparently a cop, so he invites Juan for breakfast and tells him about a real "thing". His (seeming) sister Valeria (Leticia Bredice), who (seemingly) works in a hotel, can help them to the Nine Queens, a rare stamp series. The victim: Gandolfo (Ignasi Abadal), (apparently) rich and constantly drunk. At this point it should be said that nothing of the plot is revealed. Every "apparently" is just an "apparently", what means there; it could be like this or not. The plot works cleverly, but is not the main thing! Nine Queens is an elegant comedy, that pretends to be "dead serious". All characters in the movie are carefully worked out and lively. The most beautiful moments are those in which the characters themselves dissolve an "apparent" one and yet everything is completely different again. Besides, Juan falls in love with Valeria and it's also about gangster honor and friendship. Nine Queens plays in Buenos Aires and even the city seems like a fraud: Sometimes you think it is actually a South American metropolis, then again it looks American or European. By the way: I read that Fabian Bielinsky's script was the winner in an Argentine competition. One knows this method from HBO or Miramax and I think that no studio would have been able to create such a story on its own. Anyway, Nine Queens became a huge success in South America and has been an insider tip here for over ten years.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Paolo Sorrentino - The Consequences Of Love

Living Death in Bern. Here comes an impressively stylish and headstrong love story from Italy by 35-year-old Paolo Sorrentino. Italian cinema, which has surrendered to bombast and pathos for so long, also needs this fresh cell therapy as urgently as a patient in want! At the center is a deadly serious, expressionless mafioso who basically leads the life of a modern manager-type: Far away from home as a permanent hotel guest, trapped in a labyrinth of fear. Everything here seems immovable, in limbo and of pure elegance. Plus a sound design that seems like nothing is real, just hallucination. Toni Servillo plays Titta with his tense, sensitive facial expression. Titta has been living like a ghost in this luxury hotel in Switzerland for ten years. Dressed like a man of the world, stylishly smoking, quite the bourgeois Italian, he pays all the bills on time and seems to have nothing, but nothing at all to do. The hotel staff are fascinated by him as he floats through the property's corridors without even saying a single greeting. Titta shows no reaction, just stares past his counterpart. In the bar he always takes his usual corner seat and drinks alone. He rejects any conversation with other guests (the funniest moment is when two backpacker girls occupy his chair). Titta's hotel room with its beige and brown tones seems like a depressing exile in which he spends his evenings alone. But Titta has a gun. Once he throws it on the bed, then his jacket next to it. The camera remains on the gun until we have actually noticed it. Every week Titta receives a mysterious suitcase full of dollars from a mysterious woman wearing sunglasses. Without asking questions, he takes the suitcase in his silver BMW to the Swiss bank, where he demands that the sum be counted by hand (Titta believes that the day a machine will replace man will be a bad day). Finally Titta gets a visit from two Cosa Nostra killers. The secret of his existence is revealed in this way. But the heart of the movie is a love story. At the bar works a beautiful waitress, Sofia (Olivia Magnani), who undresses right in front of him. She greets Titta, who refuses this greeting every time. Finally, she addresses him. She does that very definitely; it's a complaint. Everything about this confusing and incredibly intense story about exile, captivity and escape appears hyperreal due to the dreamlike image compositions and the fascinating sound. The only person who is really interested in Titta is Sofia behind the bar. How she shows her shy love, but also simply weakens his inclination to self-pity and vanity, that is the most beautiful thing I have seen for a long, long time! Titta has long since resigned himself to his desperation and damnation, even let himself be taken by it. Sofia wakes him up and shows him that there is another feeling. The consequence of love, says Titta Sofia, is dangerous. He shall be proved right... 

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE NSU: German History X

 Unfortunately, German History X: NSU runs in poor quality on youtube - and I can't find the mini series in any media library.  So better than nothing, right? But of course you can wait until we offer the series on DVD. How does one become an anti-racist? By using slogans on social networks to serve friends? No. Unfortunately, the only way to become an anti-racist is by exposing yourself to unpleasant situations in real life. For example in the subway. The unpleasant: Then you feel like one of the victims. You live dangerously. And how do you overcome racism? Never ideologically. Because racism is an emotion. Unfortunately, it's a feeling that people just live together. You know each other, become friends. But there is a lot of darkness in Germany. Areas where Nazis kill in series. Almost unnoticed people like Enver Şimşek live in such areas. Enver is a devoted father who works all day long in his flower shop. Nine shots will hit him as he lays out his carpet for prayer. That was on September 11, 2000, at which time Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos had already committed three robberies. Until 2007 they should continue to murder. Thirteen years were to pass before the two killed themselves. Four days later Beate Zschäpe voluntarily surrendered to the police. This was the woman of whom the public prosecutor was also convinced that she was the main string-puller. Beate (Anna Maria Mühe) has no support and orientation. She hangs around in the left, then in the right scene, throws the school. Uwe M. (Albrecht Schuch) gets to know her in the youth club. There he is smearing Germany on the wall in the borders of 1937. Uwe lives in a world where people believe in "Day X". Or in the "Turner Diaries". Meanwhile Semiya Şimşek (Almila Bagriacik) hurries to the hospital to see Enver, her father. She doesn't find out how he is doing. The police ask such questions whether her father owns firearms. In short, they are looking for the reasons for such a murder. Behind this is the suspicion that the victim must move in circles that make such a murder possible. Sheer xenophobia? Nothing. Instead: extortion of protection money, honour killings, drug deals. Semiya wants to know if the perpetrators have finally been found. The NSU has already murdered half a dozen more people... Later Semiya writes Şimşek a book about how she loses trust in a country she once felt she belonged to. Almila Bagriacik plays it with full force. How a carefree girl turns into a distraught, bitter woman who clings to a last bit of hope. When the Bild newspaper makes up its cruel headline of the "Döner murders", Semiya has basically given up. But there are still questions: How could the investigators have failed in such a way? What is the Verfassungsschutz doing, or is there even an interest in not really solving these crimes? Do you still recognize Germany?

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE The Bingo Long Travelling All-Stars

 The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings presents all the black superstars of the 70s, is entertaining, funny, poignant and nostalgic!  A film that surpasses itself! A team from the so-called "Negro National Baseball League" goes into business for itself, leaves its "owners".  What must it have been like back then to be excluded from the big league as a black athlete? Here it is solved with courage and humor. And the horror of sports apartheid becomes tangible. Back then - in 1976 - the film worked as a "crossover". A film with only black stars, but designed for the whole big audience. And whoever watches the film almost feels as if he himself was one of the very first whites to watch a game of the "Negro National Baseball League" - but only sees the funny antics, but doesn't feel the pain behind them. Really? The movie takes place in 1939, back when the "Negro Leagues" existed, which today are simply swept under the table. With stars like Sachel Paige or Bingo Long and Josh Gibson or Leon Carter (Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones). They were good enough to play in the big league. But they were so much more than that! However: There was an unwritten colour ban. Therefore Bingo is sentenced to a penalty as a "rebel". He persuades Leon to form his own team. To finally play in the minor league! And the white audience comes to see the black show. But the film wants to make less a statement about racism than to entertain. At least there is no explicit statement. But if you look into the face of James Earl Jones, you can clearly feel the pain and anger. And the most fun is, as always, Richard Pryor as Charlie Snow, who learns Spanish with his dictionary to make it into the big league as a "Cuban"...

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Eric Rohmer - Le Genou de Claire

In the modern world of Netflix & Co one would sum up that Claire's Knee is about Jerome wanting to touch Claire's knee. That's why the modern world is so stupid and a hundred million years away from this extraordinary film! Of course Claire has a beautiful knee and of course Jerome feels attracted to it. He meets her on holiday at the lake. Actually Jerome wants to rest there before he marries Lucinda. The woman he has loved for five years. And then (?)... He meets Aurora, whom he has loved for a few years. Aurora has two daughters, Laura and Claire. Then Aurora and Jerome start a kind of intellectual game. He should describe to her what happens to him on holiday. Everyone notices how Laura falls in love with Jerome. Platonic. Then Claire appears. While picking cherries, she stands on the ladder over Jerome and uncovers her wonderful knee (see cinema poster). This is the moment when lust rises in Jerome. He still wants to marry Lucinda. But in Jerome the desire grows to touch Claire's knee one day. As you may notice, Claire's knee functions on a different level than the superficial action level. How do people approach each other? How do they distance themselves from each other again? How do we think and act? Eric Rohmer has the gift to express universal humanity with small gestures. It is thought that the actors themselves are going through these experiences. Everything seems real! Completely real! For example, Laura seems to be happier than Claire. Not because she's prettier. I think just because she's a better person than Claire. Difficult is the role of Jean-Claude Brialy as Jerome. He identifies with three women and yet has to remain faithful to the one absent. Claire's Knee is a film for people who also read a novel and don't just stare at soaps in series format. Does that sound pessimistic enough? That's good.

FREE ON ARTE Eric Rohmer - Ma Nuit Chez Maud

Rohmer's My Night With Maud is about love. And about the little games of love. It is certainly the best Rohmer film. Not intellectually or even academically. Much better: He is very thoughtful and knows human nature. It's a challenging film. No sprinkling. Then you want to discuss it and I'm sure that there are contrary points of view. Try it with your girlfriend! Appear Jean-Louis Trintignant as a catholic, lonely man. He loves a blond girl he never met. On Sundays he sees her in church and sometimes on the street. One day he meets Maud (Françoise Fabian). She is divorced and has an irregular appointment. She likes Jean-Louis (he has the same name in the movie). He can stay if her lover, a friend of Jean-Louis, leaves. Then something strange happens: Maud and Jean-Louis talk all night long. They talk about sex and marriage. They in a nightgown. Sometimes Jean-Louis sits on the edge of the bed. It's a scene in which the characters reveal themselves solely through their behaviour and movements. Maud provokes Jean-Louis. At the same time, she preserves her private sphere. Subtle? Yes, extremely! All the other scenes in the film complement this one. And now imagine it's 1969, you're cinephil, you live in Paris and you watch My Night With Maud in the cinema. I think it must have been like a revelation!

FREE ON ARTE Eric Rohmer - La Collectioneuse

A few leisurely summer days in a villa near Saint Tropez on the French Riviera. These days are supposed to pass leisurely. Two gentlemen of the best age would like to spend them with good conversations and thought games - without women. But something sensual is in the air and the film seems to drift aimlessly into these spheres. La Collectionneuse is Rohmer's third film from the cycle of Moral Stories. The first feature-length film from the series and the first in colour. Basically, La Collectionneuse represents the starting point of his entire later career (after the early phase under the sign of the Nouvelle Vague). Rohmer was older than his colleagues, and at the age of 40 even older than his two protagonists. Nevertheless, he succeeds in portraying the sluggishness and narcissism of youth in a dreamlike way. All of his moral stories deal with the intricate patterns of romance and love. He hardly showed any sex, Rohmer much prefers to film the conversations about it. His actors are indisputably attractive! Rohmer's camera caresses them as they talk and talk and sometimes flatters each other. The collector (she collects men) is called Haydee (Haydee Politoff). The gentlemen Adrien and Daniel (Patrick Bauchau, Daniel Pommereuve) are at least ten years older than the collector. The two of them watch Haydee during her arrival with a few boys - and stress that they have no interest at all in sleeping with her! Both are not led by fate (unlike in many Hollywood movies), but are able to reflect on her actions. Incidentally, there is no such thing as unchanging morality. So let's look at the trio. Daniel is the most uninteresting. He smokes and drinks a lot, wears kaftans on the beach and wants to sleep with the collector sooner or later. Haydee is about twenty, has a beautiful, slightly rounded face, full lips and a fashionable haircut. She looks very self-confident and there is always something mysterious around her. Adrien is described in dialogue as having the appearance of an eagle. A beautiful man, who already took part in earlier Nouvelle Vague movies of Rohmer. Adrien would really like to be all to himself and now arranges little games to get Daniel and the collector into bed. But what Haydee really wants - it's hard to guess... Every few years again, I watch La collectionneuse anew, because hardly any other film has such a peaceful effect on me. Rohmer isn't afraid at all to expect too much dialogue from us or the other way around, too little "action". He allows us to judge for ourselves. The object of desire that everything revolves around here - Rohmer manages to demonstrate it in such a way that every impulse of desire is included. I think it's his talent to watch the characters closely and think about them instead of just throwing them into the action. It's nice to see characters talking to each other (and not saying anything one after the other). In short: I love Rohmer! I've loved his work for 25 years now!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

 The image of the bird in the cage singing about freedom - it runs like a red thread through the work of Maya Angelou: the struggle for women's rights and liberation from the shackles of racism.  Her biography comprises a total of six books. Her early childhood is haunted by the painful feeling of not being wanted. At the age of three, her family moves to the musty small town of Arkansas. When the parents decide to end their terrible marriage, the children are sent to California to live with their grandmother. But they do not feel safe anywhere. In the general store and on the street they feel exposed to racist attacks. Maya is sent to live with her mother and endures the trauma of being raped by her mother's partner. But Maya finds her voice. She writes. She writes that she herself is the measure of what a human being can be. She overcomes her inferiority complex and develops self-confidence. That's the only way she can tackle this tangled puzzle of hate and racism. Maya becomes the first black tram conductor in San Francisco. It is the story of a black girl who grew up during the Great Depression in the southern United States and emancipated herself, gaining knowledge and affirmation. If you wonder about the not very glamorous picture quality; the film adaptation from 1979 was conceived for TV. Angelou himself wrote the script for it! He divides the six books into two large parts. The first deals with racism in the South during the 1930s. The second part shows life in the big city of St. Louis. Here Maya gets an insight into what it means to be a black woman. A life of value! If you pay attention to the background, you will notice the outstanding moments of current events, such as when a group of men gathers around the small suitcase radio. That's when the black community learns that Joe Louis won the heavyweight title!

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE All Power To The People

Here, the often distorted history of the Black Panther Party is recapitulated in order to finally get rid of various conspiracy theories that accelerated its downfall at the time. A fate that also happened to other "extremist" movements in the late 60s. It was in 1992 when Helmer Lee Lew-Lee, who was on location as a cameraman during the riots in Los Angeles at the time, wanted to find out for himself how it could have come to this: How could American racism reach such a sad climax? Today - 2020 - we know; it wasn't even THE climax. in staccato, the time of slavery up to the civil rights movement of the early 60s is torn down by means of a collage technique. The assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy undermined the self-determination of the black lower class, which was repeatedly discriminated against. In 1967 the Black Panthers formed in Oakland and wrote a 10-point pamphlet. Above all, the Black Panthers called for better housing, education and food. The police considered them a racist force terrorizing blacks. Of course, the media was allowed to see this as "inflammatory." In a very short time, the Panthers became icons. Famous and infamous. There are now various theories on how the party was infiltrated and disintegrated by FBI people. And certainly Hoover and Nixon played no small role! Captivating as a saga, Lew-Lee traces the events. The footage material is presented in fast cuts - it's better to have prior knowledge. Often parallel events are cut like the "Red Power" movement of the early 70s. Even the era of the cold war under Reagan is touched upon. Too much of a good thing? Sometimes, yeah. Less colorful time-lapse landscapes and a shortage of material would have made a better, but not a more entertaining film. I think if you combine this documentary with Spike Lee's "Malcom X" and Mario Van Peebles' "Panther", you'll know more.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Mario Van Peebles - Panther

FREE ON YOUTUBE Mario Van Peebles' "Panther" is about the rise and fall of the radical black movement from the 60s, which today has more weight than ever before: Back then, the "Black Panthers" inspired the imagination of their followers. What anything would be possible! But there was also a lot to be said for the fact that the "Black Panthers" never really had the power, let alone the number of members, to really push anything through. But that doesn't matter! Only the idea of a black militant self-defence group made history. After the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, the "Black Panthers" claimed to lead the civil rights movement in their spirit. Their message was not misleading: white America could no longer count on non-violent and patient blacks to hold their marches. The Black Panthers patrolled the streets of Oakland with weapons or stormed the
California State Assembly. They were images to be remembered. It would be interesting to examine all this more closely. Panther is not the film that does this. Instead, Panther offers a superficial, confused thriller story, incorporating the mafia, car chases and drug cartels. Unfortunately. As if the Panthers' battles with the police weren't enough! But in return the Panthers gives us a good picture of the idealism and passion of the early years. The voice of the narrator introduces us to the fact that the Black Panthers were invented in the cafe of Huey P. They improvised, sold Mao Bibles to white students at a profit of 70 cents a piece. It was the "Summer Of Love", but soon the Panthers would feel the pressure of the FBI. J. Edgar Hoover simply could not imagine that young black people would be able to run an organization at all. There had to be communists behind it, according to his racist conclusion. The Panthers were infiltrated by undercover agents. Like Newton, played by Marcus Chong. Although officials like Brimmer (Joe Don Baker) think the Panthers' rhetoric actually sounds like the American Constitution, they planned to continue to infiltrate the group. Groups like the Oakland Panthers even took care not to perform together. No one was to notice how small their organization was in reality! That's why they deliberately distributed manipulated information to the media. Or was the whole thing a conspiracy staged by the FBI? For those of us who want to understand today who the Black Panthers actually were, the conspiracy theory is of little help. Due to the pressure of the FBI, the imprisonment of the spokesmen and the weakening of the whole apparatus, the Black Panthers finally showed themselves disillusioned. The movement came to a standstill. In the film, however, artificial martyrs are created who can withstand a hail of bullets. There are additional actions with the drug mafia and artificial highlights. All freely invented. Basically, the action finale conceals the truth. If you really want to get involved in the movement, you better watch Spike Lee's "Malcolm X". After all, Van Peeble's film refers to the true story at the end: "Before the Panthers were crushed, they had succeeded in establishing chapters in almost every state." But this film has yet to be made. Perhaps the time is ripe today, as America's cities burn.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Spike Lee - Sucker Free City

Spike Lee sees the world with great passion and rage. He is not only one of the very best, but above all one of the most decisive filmmakers in America. His central theme: race. Very important: In Spike Lee movies you see black characters who are connected to each other. Not just with a hypothetical white audience. Here you see the black middle class of America as it really is. I think. And Lee does not offer a definite attitude. But anybody with a heart will like Spike Lee's characters. We don't have to understand them completely, nor should we forgive them everything. But: We can identify with their fears and frustrations! In Sucker Free City it only takes five seconds to come to a conclusion: They (the producers in charge) screwed up big time! Spike Lee shows the gang life in San Francisco with black, Chinese and white fighters. Spike Lee builds up his characters for a subsequent TV series - which never got off the ground. We have to make do with the pilot film. And Sucker Free City would have been a great series! Appearance Nick (Ben Crowley), whose parents have to move because of gentrification. His parents (played by John Savage and Kathy Baker) are old hippies who probably think moving to Hunter's Point is a good idea. But in Hunter's Point the gang war rages. We find ourselves in the middle of the demimonde of petty criminals who want to make the climb. They collect protection money for the Chinese Mafia, like Hip Hop, cars and are not too smart. Just like Angela (T.V. Carpio). All this is told with a lot of passion and humor. Can you call all this a simple culture clash? I think that all protagonists suppress something. Not only Nick's parents of 68. That's how life on the street works. You just have to spend an afternoon on the terrace of our bar and listen to the "homies". How they talk about their dreams and how much they are simply repressing. And what happens in the end? Not much. Sucker Free City should have been a big series! But as I said; the people in charge thoroughly blew that chance!

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Fruitvale Station

Fruitvale Station takes a look at the ever-dividing American society. There is no doubt that this film shows a piece of reality and that has the effect of a fable, almost a teaching play. Oscar Grant (the fantastic Michael B. Jordan!) actually existed: A 22 year old man, whose death we experience right at the beginning of the film: Phone footage on a New York subway platform. Cops hit Oscar and his friends. A gunshot finally kills Oscar. The rest of the film shows what Oscar did that day before he was shot on New Year's Eve 2009. Mind you, this is a person with dreams and feelings, who had a daughter and whose death left a huge vacuum for many relatives and friends. Oscar was a human being, not a wild animal. The remark may sound quite unnecessary - but it isn't, given the roles that blacks usually get in American movies! Over the last thirty years we have seen the black man in the cinema as a force bolt, but he seems to be morally and intellectually inferior. Black intelligence? The very highest "street smart"! Fruitvale Station knows this whole story. Director Ryan Coogler lets us participate in an ordinary day of Oscar. He is dressed like a "homeboy", but Oscar is not a bat. He's a father worried about his daughter's next rent and schooling. He used to deal, but now he lost his job in the supermarket and is thinking of selling pot again. Fruitvale Station is one of the classics of social realism. Oscar is one of these charismatic anti-heroes, who is glimpsed quite ephemerally and yet with deep sensitivity. We know this kind of cinema mainly from Great Britain - the only difference to the role models: Fruitvale Station is set in America and the hero is black. Who considers this difference as small, should try to imagine the figures in similar works as a black man... And? It is the merit of Jordan's play and Coogler's direction to set some omens early in the film, as Oscar realizes, that his freedom, his whole existence can simply be overturned by quite trivial unfair violence.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Nothing But A Man

A pioneering act, this 1964 drama about the lives of African-Americans. And a real pleasure - although Nothing But A Man is still hardly known today. Staged by Michael Roemer, a German immigrant with Jewish roots. Roemer once stated in an interview that Nazi persecution had sensitized him to the American issue of racial injustice. Duff (Ivan Dixon - the director of "The Spook Who Sat By The Door") is a railwayman from Alabama who falls in love with his teacher Josie (Abbey Lincoln). A love that is put to the test by daily racism and Duff's dysfunctional family. Duff's father is absent and even he himself neglects his son from a previous relationship. Nothing But A Man is as simple as it is poignant! You can find it in our "Indie" shelf of the 50's-60's. Or free on YouTube.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE The Spook Who Sat By The Door

Sam Greenlee, who wrote the screenplay for The Spook Who Sat By The Door - the very first revolutionary Black Power film - can be considered an accomplished poet! Some would now remark that the cinematic realisation of Greenlee's script is a bit clumsy. A little convincing melodrama. But what does that matter, given the brute force of the urgency of this message! The Spook Who Sat By The Door seems like a prophecy. Prejudice + reaction. Back in 1973, the film was awarded by the venerable United Artists. Unfortunately, the film was only shown in the cinema for a short time. Greenlee put on record that his work would have been suppressed by the FBI because they did not want people to hear the core message of the armed black resistance. Today, after the police murder of George Floyd, 15,000 people demonstrated at the Alex in Berlin. The city did not burn, unlike American cities. Not until now. But if you understand Greenlee correctly, you know he's all about rioting. Not about a silent remembrance of a black man who was brutally murdered by police officers. After his film disappeared from theaters, it remains an underground phenomenon. One could organize coarse-grained versions on VHS - recorded somewhere. I once asked the Videodrom about it. Nothing. And if the film doesn't exist there, it doesn't exist anywhere in West Berlin! Only in 2004 a version was released. The cover of the DVD is enclosed (not the original cinema poster).  If you watch the film on YouTube stream now, remember: "If you accept it as the message movie it was meant to be, as the protest film it was intended to be, I think a lot of people will enjoy" (Wickham).

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE The Black Power Mixtape + Black Power Movies

You watch The Black Power Mixtape and hardly ever come back to your normal everyday life. So many ideas and thoughts circulate in your head! How can I collect myself now? I think the correct expression for this is: You feel shocked. The Black Power Mixtape documents a time when you read the black leaders - especially Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They were messages that seemed like a provocation to the mainstream - and still do today: Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, Eldridge Cleaver and Huey P. Newton. Anyone who wants to take a serious look at the Black Power movement will collect this material in chronological order. Like the documentary by the Swede Göran Hugo Olsson. It is as if one becomes aware of one's own racist identity.

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Roman Polanski - Knife In The Water

At some point, Hollywood had changed. At the latest when a young European without Hollywood experience was entrusted with a lucrative project and simply left the script and direction to him according to his own whims. That was when Paramount produced "Rosemary's Baby" by Roman Polanski. Polanski can be regarded as the very first director from the world beyond the Iron Curtain to be granted such an honour. Back in the late 60s, only insiders knew Polanski's first film Knife In The Water. My father once boasted that it was HE who made Polanski accessible to the West by going over to East Berlin to bring the early Polanski shorts to West Berlin for his film club. Anyone who didn't know that - well - maybe there was another insider who was possibly even faster than my father. Polanski films prefer to deal with macabre, bizarre themes, trying out all the film genres. At one point I read that Polanski most admired Luis-Bunuel with his fondness for fetishes, black magic and the supernatural. Sure! But Knife In The Water is more an example of how to make a great movie with the simplest means. An irritable older man and a good-looking woman take a young guy with them, who hitchhikes. They invite him to go sailing with them. On the yacht, the tension rises as both men compete in an alpha contest for the woman's favour. Everything that constitutes later Polanski classics is already there. Something menacing resonates beneath the surface and the hustle and bustle of the alpha males is also funny. Humiliation, aggression, sexuality and absurdity - with only three actors and a boat. The script was written by Jerzy Skolimowski and obviously Polanski and Skolimowski love the Nouvelle Vague much more than the contemporary pessimistic Polish films of their time. A gleeful relationship drama, which is in reality a black comedy and often looks like a psycho-thriller. So lovingly made that I could see it again and again!

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Krzysztof Kieslowski - The Double Life Of Veronique

This is a film about a feeling and like all feelings, it cannot be described in words. But art can conjure it up. It is the feeling that we are not alone. There is someone else besides us. In a distant sense we are connected to each other through thoughts. We cannot comprehend it, it is simply a feeling. There are many theories of events that have influenced other events far away. Chimpanzees on one island were taught something, while chimpanzees on another island took it over - synchronously. Or are they in both places simultaneously? Krzysztof Kieslowski's La double Vie de Véronique does us the favour of not explaining ourselves. The film leaves in suspense what is currently happening. It conjures it up with the face of Irene Jacob. She plays two roles, the Polish Veroniqua and the French Veronique. Kieslowski understood that the human face is the greatest subject in cinema. His camera looks very intensively at the face of Jacob. I don't want to waste any time at this point in describing how beautiful it is - because Kieslowski's camera searches for the soul behind it. Sometimes she smiles, sometimes she looks lost, sometimes she just thinks. She herself seems vulnerable, romantic, full of joy and tender. She has a good face and we are included in her self-perception. The film opens with a fun-loving young woman, Veroniqua, who travels to Cracow to visit her aunt. Her clear voice arouses the interest of a choirmaster. She is chosen to sing in the concert hall. Before the performance she sees herself getting into a coach. As if rooted to the spot, Veroniqua stops, frozen in pain. She doesn't notice the other woman, who looks like Veroniqua, and takes snapshots with her camera. Without realizing it, the stranger takes pictures of Veroniqua. In Paris we meet Veronique, a teacher. With her class she visits a puppet theatre. Through a mirror behind the stage, she can see the puppeteer and he can see her. Shortly afterwards, she announces that she is in love. Her father asks her if she is sad and she answers in the affirmative (although she does not know exactly why). I think we know the reason: something like an excitement of the time must have come from Krakow to Paris. Veronique and the puppeteer Alexandre (Philippe Volter) are connected. She finds him and flees from him, she has fallen in love. Later she will tell Alexandre that she has felt all her life that she is in two places at once. We know this feeling. Suppose you are in a strange city, sitting in a cafe. Suddenly you think you have experienced exactly this situation before (although you have never been there before). Alexandre has carved two puppets that look like Veronique. He tells the story of the two: When she was little, one puppet touched the hot stove. A few days later, the other knew that this touch was painful and refrained from doing so. Why does the Parisian Veronique suddenly and unexpectedly stop taking singing lessons? A "normal" film brand Arthaus would have explained this to us in detail. Fortunately Kieslowski did not. He does not want to know how such things confess. He wants us to admit to ourselves how such things feel. Should now the wrong impression have been created that there is hardly any action in La double Vie de Véronique? The film has a hypnotic effect, we are drawn into the characters without the distance that a plot would allow us. Both women, Veroniqua and Veronique, are good and real. They do nothing to be ashamed of. There is this moment when Jacobs holds Veronique's face in the sun. We feel; she lives this moment, she enjoys it! It is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen! Cameraman Slawomir Idziak reveals the ardent beauty of Jacobs! A whole palette of red and green tones, which in themselves stand for nothing, but make the film look so wonderful, so enchanted! They underline the third striking colour: a golden yellow, which emphasises Jacob's flawless face. There are several other characters, two fathers, an aunt, a singing teacher and everyone looks at them with love and wisdom. The film knows no evil people. There are also mysterious characters, like the woman in the black hat. She turns around and looks after Veronique. Who she is; we don't know. That is the art of Krzysztof Kieslowski, who is a wonderful director! Together with his author Krzysztof Piesiewicz, he has made many explorations of human fate. La double vie de Véronique seems like a single

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE 101 Reykjavik

Hlynur is 28 years old and lives with his mother. He plans to retire right after his unemployment insurance. He has never left the borders of Reykjavik and is not interested in anything else. He sleeps until noon, watches fitness videos as porn and sometimes meets with his girlfriend. But to sleep, he goes home alone. He also indifferently accepts the mother's announcement that her friend Lola (Victoria Abril) is coming to visit her over Christmas. Contrary to his expectations he is excited by the sight of the beautiful Spaniard, who lets him watch while she takes a shower. The mother, however, tells Hlynur that she has found out that she is a lesbian and that she will live with Lola from now on... Icelandic Baltasar Kormákur's debut is entitled Reykjavik's postcode. The film is a cynical comedy, the core of which is tragic, but which is hardly noticeable because of the many bizarre ideas. One of the running gags is Hlynur's neighbour, who constantly watches him with binoculars. Passion far below zero - sometimes you feel like in a Spanish comedy of the 80s, only the pacing is more deliberate. In Kormákurs Sex-Farce the human being is ready for a coming out at any time - but in the end the hero literally falls back into hibernation under a blanket of snow.